GE Aviation plans $50 million expansion in Auburn, to hire 60

GE Aviation is planning to pump $50 million into its Auburn facility, expanding its additive manufacturing operation.

The expansion will create 60 jobs and install new additive production machines at the plant as it works to mass produce a jet engine component. GE Aviation in Auburn currently employs around 230 people.

Gov. Kay Ivey announced the move today, which is another benchmark for the Auburn area’s becoming a hub for additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, as it is known.

“GE Aviation is at the leading edge of advanced aerospace additive manufacturing, and the company’s expansion plans at the Auburn facility will strengthen its technology leadership position,” Ivey said, in a statement.

According to the Alabama Department of Commerce, GE has invested more than $100 million in its Auburn operation, which began producing a fuel nozzle tip there in 2015. Last October, it produced its 30,000th 3-D printed fuel nozzle tip for the LEAP jet engine.

Additive technology allows companies to mass produce intricate parts through computer scanning, using fine metal powder and electron beams or lasers, The fuel nozzle, for example, previously involved 20 pieces later put together. With the expansion, Auburn will begin production of a 3-D printed bracket for the GEnx-2B engine program.

Last year, GE Aviation opened a $200 million factory complex in Huntsville to produce ceramic matrix composites for jet engines and wind turbines.